Good afternoon, crossword fans — welcome to Week 135 of my contest. If you’re new to the contest and would like to enter, please see the site FAQ on the left sidebar for instructions.
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:
306 solvers identified “The Little Drummer Boy” as last week’s contest Christmas carol, noticing its distinctive chorus line at the beginning of the puzzle’s five theme entries:
17-a PAIR OF NINES
24-a RUMOR MILL
33-a PUMPKIN BUTTER
47-a PUMMELING
54-a PUMICE STONE
Mark O’Kain writes:
I would have been very upset to not finish this puzzle … since I’m a drummer!
Many solvers — actually, very many solvers — mentioned that “The Little Drummer Boy” is far from their favorite Christmas carol. Several mentioned its earwormish qualities, including Marty Howard:
If I can’t get rid of this in my head, I’m gonna get you!
This week’s winner, whose name was chosen at random from the 306 correct entries received, is Elaine Walizer of Conway, Ark. Elaine has selected as her prize an autographed copy of Gridlock.
NON EST ERRATUM, SED MALUM EST:
Peter Washington notes an inelegance:
The clue for 30-D is a little inartful since the P in the answer stands for play.
Whoops! Swing and a miss.
SPECIAL PRIZES OVER THE NEXT FOUR WEEKS:
Weekly winners of MGWCC over the next month will receive both a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set plus a year-long subscription to Peter Gordon‘s outstanding Fireball Crosswords.
THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:
No New Year’s puzzle — I couldn’t think of any words containing the sequence MMXI — but pet lovers will like it anyway. This week’s contest answer is a breed of dog. E-mail it to me at crosswordcontest@gmail.com by Tuesday at noon ET. Please put the contest answer breed in the subject line of your e-mail. [UPDATE, 12/31, 1:50 PM ET: Todd Dashoff points out that the clue to 45-down should read {Was a promoter (for)}.]
To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite either solve on the applet below or download the free software here, then join the Google Group (1,408 members now!) here. To solve with friends at Team Crossword, click here.
Solve well, Happy New Year!, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.